Warehouse Racking Systems - Best Storage Racks

If you are struggling to keep your goods organized, good warehouse racking systems may be what you need. There are many types of warehouse racking systems which you can get for your storage area which will help organize your items in the storage place. While the most popular type is by using pallet racks, you can also opt for bulk storage racks or catilever racks to suit your needs. Depending on your situation, you may want to choose either one of them or a combination of both. This article will discuss the reasons for having warehouse racking systems and the types that you can choose from.

Why Do I Need Warehouse Racking Systems?

Now that you have a rough idea about the warehouse racking systems, you must be wondering about the reasons of having one. Here are a couple of reasons for you to ponder over:

1. Increase Efficiency â€“ By having good warehouse racking systems, it will lead to efficiency when it comes to receiving new stock or transporting the goods to be delivered to customers. With the goods all stacked up in order on the shelves, it will be easy for the workers to find the goods. This reduces the time spent on searching for stock and reduces the risk of delivering the wrong items to customers. Investing in these warehouse racking systems would make good sense as its increased efficiency will help reduce labor costs in the long term.

2. Save Space â€“ Warehouse racking systems can actually help you save a lot of space. If properly planned out, they can help increase your storage area by almost double, allowing you to store more goods. These shelves operate vertically, allowing you to make use of the vertical space between the floors and the ceiling. You may be surprised that many warehouses overlook the space available higher up. You would however need a lift equipment to help you reach the goods which are placed higher up. Instead of getting a new place or making an extension, it would be a good idea to get a well set up warehouse racking systems to help maximize the use of the unused space in your storage area.

3. Protect Goods â€“ Good warehouse racking systems can also help protect your goods against damage. This is especially critical if you have warehouses in a flood prone area. Instead of having the stock lie on the ground, these shelves will help reduce the water damage if say there is any flood. Some items are also delicate and fragile and have to be stocked properly, so getting a good system would help reduce the damage to the product. After all, you do not want to lose profits just because of bad inventory storage. With these warehouse racking systems, you can set aside a few units for these types of items so that the workers will be extra careful when dealing with them.

4. Easy Tracking â€“ With well set up warehouse racking systems, you can track your inventory more easily. Whether you are using RFID tracking or manual tracking, it would be much easier to find your stock with the system in place. Clearly labelled aisles will help you keep track of things more easily and can potentially prevent theft. If you know where things are, you would be able to spot missing inventory more quickly than if you did not know. By having good warehouse racking systems, it would also be easier to track your inventory levels since they are clearly grouped together.

Types of Racks Used in Warehouse Racking Systems

As mentioned earlier, there are a few common types of racks used in warehouse racking systems. This section will take you through the characteristics of each type to help you make your decision on which type is the best for you.

Pallet Racks

The most common one used in warehouse racking systems is the pallet rack. They are heavy duty and made up of mainly upright frames, horizontal braces and decks. The upright frames are placed together resembling a table with the decks as the surface to put your goods. The horizontal braces are used and secured with nuts and bolts to ensure that the upright frames stay in place. With a pallet rack, you can add as many upright frames as you want on top of each unit, enabling you to stack them up high.

They come in many different sizes depending on your needs and prices usually depend on the strength that you require, whether regular or heavy duty and the measurements of the decks and frames that you are purchasing. While these warehouse racking systems might be quite expensive if you get them new, you can buy second hand pallet racks to save money. Since they are heavy duty, they are made to last long, so buying a second hand one should not bring much trouble. However, you would need to check for any rusting as you do not want your warehouse racking systems to come crumbling down.

Bulk Storage Racks

These warehouse racking systems are less complicated compared to the pallet rack. The bulk storage rack allows you to store less compared to the prior, so they are more suitable if you are running a smaller scale business. They comprise of large heavy duty shelves for you to store your items. You can get them open ended or in a drawer form for certain items and in different sizes to suit your requirements. This is a better option to consider when designing your warehouse racking systems as you would not need to spend extra money on buying lifting equipment. Most of these shelves and cabinets are within hand reach using a ladder.

Cantilever Racks

This is a special type of rack used in warehouse racking systems which are used to store long materials which are hard to organize in the conventional ones above. They consist of upright columns with steel bars sticking out of them like arms. Some of the common items stored here are aluminum sheets, pipes, woods, and steel bars. Because of their length, they can be stored easily using this option by laying them flat across a few arms.